


every breath (you take)

by milkyskeleton



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Author's Favorite, Dark, Dark Komaeda Nagito, Drabble, Haunted Houses, Komaeda Nagito Being Komaeda Nagito, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, i ain't ever written something like this before ahdska
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:55:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29141112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkyskeleton/pseuds/milkyskeleton
Summary: ~Hinata huddled further into himself, pulling his hoodie together against the bitter cold. Shaky breaths puffed little white clouds in front of him, too soft for the place he was in.Someone was whistling.~
Relationships: Hinata Hajime/Komaeda Nagito
Comments: 8
Kudos: 63





	every breath (you take)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kqeyas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kqeyas/gifts).



> this might actually be one of my favorite fics i've ever written! thanks kqeyas for despairing (see what i did there) over komahina with me, and i hope you enjoy this hehe >:)
> 
> (can this even be called a fanfiction? I do not know.)
> 
> hope everyone enjoys!!

  
  


Hinata huddled further into himself, pulling his hoodie together against the bitter cold. Shaky breaths puffed little white clouds in front of him, too soft for the place he was in.

Someone was whistling.

It was a high, scratchy sound that seemed to claw its way out of its owner's throat like jagged knives. Steps along the creaky floorboards accompanied it, both soft and heavy at the same time.

_Go into the abandoned house_ , they said.  _It'll be fun_ , they said. 

_Fun my ass_ , Hinata grunted quietly, pushing himself up against the wall as far as he could. 

The steps had stopped a while ago, and, well, this was as good a moment as any. Gently, he pushed open the closet door, thanking the lord it didn't creak. He'd lost track of Chiaki a couple minutes ago. Or perhaps it was hours? He'd lost all sense of time, and the dark walls looming over him certainly did not make it any easier to distinguish night from day.

He grit his teeth, before steeling his resolve and stepping out of the closet and into the room.  _Ghosts aren't real_ , he nodded to himself, straightening his shoulders more or less trying to convince himself. 

He dug his phone out of his pocket, turning it over to shake it a couple of times. No such luck. Still dead.

The door leading out of the room he was in _did_ creak, and the floorboards seemed a breath away from crumbling under his foot. He risked a glance around the corridor, heart stuttering a few more times than he'd be willing to admit.

Dark red fabric climbed up the walls, no less than three elegant chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. A smooth, wood banister kept the hallway separated from the gaping hole leading towards the ground floor.

Hinata stilled a bit, hesitating, hand still on the door handle.  _Had it looked that way when he'd come in_ ?

He couldn't remember. But, all the more reason to get out of there as soon as possible.

He took a step towards where he thought the stairwell he'd come through would be - both the hallway's ends looked the same -, before a shaky voice made him pause.

"A-anyone there?"

Hinata whipped his head around, lips pursing.  _Another lost person?_ What  _were_ the chances of two groups of teenagers wandering into the same abandoned house on the same night?

_Still_ , he glanced furtively, albeit a bit nervously, around the hallway. He couldn't just leave someone alone like this. He'd want someone to come find him.

_Besides_ , he bit his lip, body already involuntarily turning towards the source of the voice,  _he doubted that if it were actually a ghost, it wouldn't have attacked by now_ . 

Having decided, he quietly ran towards where the voice seemed to have come from, closing his eyes and praying to whatever was out there whoever it had been that had been whistling was gone.

" _Hello_ ?" Hinata whispered, pushing open the door leading to one of the bedrooms, glancing around for the mysterious person.

"Hello," the sudden voice made him jump, goosebumps flowering across his legs. He whipped his head around; the person was standing in the middle of the doorway, the light from the candles in the hallway making his silhouette dark, and rendering Hinata unable of discerning any features. Only the person's wild, something between spiky and curly hair standing up like he'd stuck his hand in a charging outlet.

"Let's go, we have to get out of here," Hinata whispered as quickly as he could, bounding towards the person, and grabbing their arm to pull them out into the hallway. "I think there's someone else with us, and I'm not even joking."

He glanced back towards the person, a boy he now saw, who ran after him, pale eyes wide as they stared at Hinata. He let go of the boy's hand.

"T-thank you. What's your name?" the boy huffed, slowing to a stop as Hinata did the same, having reached a corner. Hinata glanced towards him.

"Hinata. Yours?"

The boy's thin lips stretched into a smile that seemed way out-of-place for the situation they were in. It almost looked as if he was wearing a shirt two sizes too small for him. "Nagito Komaeda."

A brush of frigid air licked at his ear suddenly, making Hinata whip around, violently clasping a hand over his ear. Komaeda whispered a question behind him, but he did not turn around.  _It had felt just as if..._

They rounded the corner, throwing careful glances around. Hinata's breathing was heavier than before, Komaeda's seeming weirdly lighter.

_It had felt just as if someone was breathing down his neck._

  
  


"Let's go through here," he said, not glancing behind him. There was no doubt Komaeda was still following him.

He pushed open the wooden door (all of them looked eerily similar, almost identical), and found he was standing in some kind of sitting room. He'd known the house was old, but not  _that_ old. Elegant portraits were hung on the walls, suspiciously dust-free. He felt his blood chill in his skin. 

_Look for the others, then you can get out_ , he whispered over and over in his head, like a reassuring mantra. For an abandoned house, it had been less creepy than he'd expected. Well, besides the whistling.

Almost subconsciously, his legs seemed to carry him towards the paintings. The first showed a weird, stuffed, half-black-half-white teddy bear on an elegant armchair. It seemed to stare right at Hinata, as if it could see him; he moved onto the next painting quickly.

This time it was a girl, dressed in an elegant black button-up shirt, light-colored hair pulled back into two high ponytails. She was smiling towards the camera, a mean grin, long nails gripping a glass with what looked to be wine in it.

The last painting was from the bust up, of a pale, almost as white as paper, skinned man, wearing a striped shirt and some kind of necklace tied around his neck. He had light-colored hair, standing up wildly, pointed seemingly almost every way. Two pale, almost erased eyes, stared back towards Hinata. A too-small smile stretched the man's lips.

Hinata felt something eating at the back of his brain. Slowly, ever so slowly, he turned back towards the doorway. It was empty.

"Looking for someone, Hinata-kun~?" a hoarse, light voice said from behind him, a breath of cold air hitting his ear.

And that was his cue. Hinata didn't even look back as he took off, sneakers hitting the floorboards with loud creaks. It didn't matter anymore anyway.

The walls seemed to stretch out, floor rolling around under his feet as if he were the hamster in someone's cage. His eyes flittered from left to right in panic.  _What the hell?! He wasn't- He wasn't moving at all_ !

He grabbed the edge of the armchair closest to him, and that seemed to do the trick. The weird illusion popped like a soap bubble, and the room tilted back to its original shape suddenly, making Hinata stumble in his place, before he took off once again.

“Going already?” the voice said from behind him, growing smaller as he sprinted out of the room, and down the hallway. Legs burning, heart pounding, it felt as if the corridor would never end. The next time Komaeda spoke, his voice was carried by the walls of the house, in an echo that bounded eerily about the manor, as if he were speaking through a PA. “I understand you. Frankly, I wouldn't want to spend time with a piece of trash like myself either-”

Hinata rounded a corner, slamming the door behind him, shoving a table against it, and backing away from it. His legs gave out from under him, and he collapsed into a nearby corner, a wispy breath barely leaving his lips. Something dug into his back, and he found he was still wearing the backpack he'd had when he'd first come into the darned house.

A muffled, echoing whistle started again.

Sweat dripping down his brow and into his eyes, Hinata hurriedly zipped open the backpack, trying to find literally anything that could possibly help him out of this situation. The walls seemed to close in on him, windows widening into tall, thin smiles, curtains stretching into long fingers reaching for him.

His hands caught on something cold and smooth.

_Yes, this was -_ !

“-Playing Hide And Seek?” Komaeda's airy voice said from somewhere right on the hallway outside. Hinata clasped his mouth as if that would keep his breath at bay.

He didn't know why, but he had the sinking feeling the spirit- ghost- thing- whatever already knew where he was, and was now only messing with him.

“I never did like this game, you know,” the voice continued, and with it the sound of languid footsteps came. “The others children always used to run away from me.”

The sound of a strangled laugh made one of the tears in Hinata's eyes drip down his cheek. He cupped his mouth even harder, tightening his grip on the cool metal.

“-Which is fair, because who would want to spend time with a lowly piece of shit like me?Ah, there you are~!” a shadow suddenly fell over Hinata, and he ripped himself from the wall as quickly as he could. The sight of Komaeda's head halfway through the wall, pale eyes smiling at him, made bile rise in his throat.

Komaeda tilted his head and tutted patronizingly at him, pulling his whole body through the wall with a disgusting squelching sound. Hinata scrambled backwards, trying to pull himself to his feet. A shiny dress shoe stepping into the ground right near his hand made him jump, freezing in his place. He'd left cracks in the floor.

“Aw, why are you crying?” the man smiled, crouching low as if they were friends, and raising a hand towards Hinata's cheek. He threw his head back, but pale nails dug into his face anyway. Komaeda's eyes opened, unblinking. “ **You crybaby**.”

Hinata bodily shoved into the other, seeing as he seemed to be solid at the moment (no time to think about the wall thing). He thrust the iron chains towards Komaeda, holding them between them like a protecting shield. “S-stay away from me. I'm not afraid of you.”

The man did back away, eyes falling onto the chains for one moment before climbing back towards Hinata's face. His eyes closed with how sweet he was smiling. Like a rotten apple core. “You think iron can stop me? I may be weak, but let's not take it too far.”

Hinata used the wall to support himself as he stood up again, eyes never once blinking in fear of having Komaeda out of his sight even for one moment. “And yet you're still staying away.”

His eyes stayed closed, even as he tilted his head upwards, towards Hinata, as if he knew where he was even for not actually seeing him. Komaeda opened his mouth, but Hinata spoke over whatever words would've come out of his mouth. “Where is my friend? This is your house,” he tightened his grip on the chains, a bead of sweat trailing down his neck. “You should know. I just want to get them, and get out. We won't bother you again, I promise.”

Reasoning with a ghost was never a good idea, movies had taught him. Still, he'd rather not have a raging, murderous spirit after him.

“They're getting quite close to the exit, actually.” Komaeda continued smiling. _Was he telling the truth?_ Hinata couldn't be sure. He had no reason to be honest with him, but no reason to do otherwise either. “And I want nothing that can be achieved by you leaving.”

Hinata was already in the doorway by now, chains wrapped around him like a weird, improvised dress. Komaeda was still on the floor, body turned towards the wall where Hinata had been mere moments ago, but face pointed towards the door. “You see,” his lips thinned to show teeth. “I'm so very lonely.”

Hinata took off again, breath stuttering in his lungs.

The house had quietened down, as if everything had been frozen altogether. The pounding of his heart sounded like loud noise to his ears, and it certainly did nothing to alleviate his fear. He could hear no sounds of Komaeda following him; he didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing.

He'd lost almost all hope when he rounded a corner and bumped right into another person. He could've sworn his soul just up and left then.

“Hinata!” Chiaki whispered at him, relieved tears in her eyes, Hinata's resolve seemed to steel, a smile forming on his face. “I've been looking everywhere for you.”

Hinata could almost start crying again with how happy he was to see a friendly face. “Me too. Come on, we _really_ need to go.”

Together they ran down the hallway. Chiaki's warm hand clasped in his seemed to ground him, rendering the illusions of the house useless. What had been a hamster circuit before, was now nothing more than an empty house.

Hinata had time to feel bad for Komaeda for one second, before he realized what he was doing.

The entrance came into view.

The lack of sound was as nerve-racking and concerning as before, but damn it they were too close. Together, they sprinted towards the door, Hinata pushing Chiaki first just to be sure.

_We made it-!_

And that was all Komaeda needed.

Something like an invisible barrier snapped into place, slicing a part of Chiaki's hair and almost ridding Hinata of his fingers. He stopped short, heart growing as heavy as a stone in his lungs. His friend turned towards him, eyes widening. It seemed she was seeing something he couldn't.

She jumped towards the barrier, hand slamming against it repeatedly, even if no sound was heard. No sound except that of footsteps delicately stepping down the staircase.

“Leaving so soon?” Komaeda smiled thinly, fingers wrapping around the iron chains draped across Hinata's shoulders, tugging all of a sudden.

Even if he stumbled backwards, Hinata refused to look away from the sight of freedom. _Almost_ freedom.

With a ' _tsk_ ', Komaeda waved his crooked fingers in a sweeping motions, and the doors closed with a soft _thud_.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> OMG THIS ENTIRE TIME I'VE BEEN WRITING 'KAITO MAKI AND CHIAKI' WTF I FORGOT THEY'RE NOT FROM THE SAME GAME ADJLAKDJSLA
> 
> originally, i wanted this to be even darker and wonkier, with like no end or beginning and no sense of time, but that's too difficult for my poor writing skillz :P


End file.
